Do you remember your first *paid* critique?

You know, the one with the agent/editor/published author? The one where you just *knew* they would be blown away by your genius and offer you a book contract on the spot?

Okay, so maybe that was just me but I do remember my first paid critique. Back in 2004, I had my first critique with a real live editor — someone who worked with authors on a daily basis.

The end result didn’t quite match my daydreams of glory.

But after the bloodshed on the manuscript pages and having the distance of hindsight, that editor gave me a gift.

She kept asking me questions:

Why does your character do this?

Why does your character believe this?

Why does your character say that?

Why? Why? Why?

Although highly irritating at the time, now I realize those questions are the building blocks and the foundation of a novel.

Because if you don’t know the answers, you don’t really know what your novel is about. And if you don’t know what your novel is about, your readers won’t have a clue either.

What are other questions that must be answered about a novel? Do you think you know the answers?

Today I’m wrapping up my series of the 2010 Florida SCBWI Mid-Year Workshop highlights.

For those of you who attend conferences, you might already know about First Page sessions. It’s where agents, editors, and authors read the first 250 words of anonymous manuscripts and then give their immediate reactions. This has become one of my favorite sessions because I always learn something that I can apply to my own work.

The following are responses and suggestions to First Pages from senior editor Alvina Ling (Little, Brown), Editorial Director Stephanie Owens Lurie (Disney-Hyperion), editor Brian Farrey (Flux), author Kathleen Duey and author Danielle Joseph.

Things that didn’t work in the First Page:

• Passive starts with weather, setting, or character waking up.
• Overly written paragraphs with too much narration.
• Characters too precocious or too clever.
• Flat character voice with no personality.
• Too many characters introduced at once.
• Characters that were too similar.
• No conflict.
• Too many adverbs.
• Too much backstory.
• Laundry-list descriptions. No need to “info-dump” all at once.
• Too melodramatic. Action doesn’t necessarily mean explosions or death in opening scene.

Things that did work in the First Page:

• Starting with a scene and showing character in action.
• Good establishment of character within a setting.
• Using specific details.
• Sharp first sentence to pique interest to read more.
• Getting into the character’s head and making the reader care or empathize.
• Showing the story problem or hint of first obstacle.
• Showing organic conflict without forced melodrama.
• Intriguing character voice with unique characteristics and style.
• Giving the reader credit by not over-explaining the novel world/setting.

These were only just a few of the reactions. The first page of your novel is the most important page that you may write. It’s the selling point for the reader to decide if they should invest time and money in your book.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed the posts this week. I had a really great time at the conference. I highly recommend Florida SCBWI conferences — they are top notch and well worth the trip.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Get some writing done!

I’m continuing my highlights from the 2010 SCBWI Florida Mid-Year Workshop and Intensives. Today I’m going to share what I learned from the editors and authors about query letters and how to construct one that is compelling and can result in a request for full or partial manuscript.

The following notes are from the Novel Intensive with senior editor Alvina Ling (Little, Brown), Editorial Director Stephanie Owens (Disney-Hyperion), and author Kathleen Duey and the YA Track Workshop with editor Brian Farrey (Flux) and author Danielle Joseph.

Part One - The Pitch

• A one sentence pitch can be an effective opening in a query letter.
• The most important part of the query letter is the synopsis — the plot summary of the novel. This is similar to the flap copy of published books.
• A good synopsis highlights character and conflict. A good synopsis is short and to the point. Keep details to a minimum. Focus on why an editor/agent would want to read the book.
• Your synopsis should go into the first major conflict (usually this occurs in the first 50 pages).
• Vagueness in the query letter is your enemy. Put in specific actions that affect your character.
• No need to describe the physical characteristics of your main character in your query letter.
• Try not to include too many secondary characters in your query letter. Only include secondary characters who are directly in conflict with the main character.

Part Two - Novel Specs

• Try to keep “themes” out of your query letter.
• Try not to repeat the title name in the query letter.
• Show why you are querying the editor or agent. Use this opportunity to show that you’ve done your research but be careful of “buttering” up the editor with compliments.
• Make sure you identify the age group and genre in your query letter.
• Make sure that when you are comparing other books to your novel in your query letter that these books are in the same genre (don’t compare a children’s book to an adult book and vice-versa). Also be careful when comparing your books to “classic” or “iconic” titles. Try to choose contemporary titles.

Part Three - Bio

• Showing personality can be effective but be keep it in context to the contents of the query letter.
• Listing conferences are not as important as listing a blog or any other kind of online Web presence.
• It can be beneficial to list any writing organization memberships.
• Professional credentials can be helpful if it is directly related to your novel.

Be sure to check back on Friday when I conclude the week with more highlights from the conference. I’ll be sharing comments on First Pages. I found this particularly helpful in what works and what could be improved when trying to capture an editor and/or an agent attention.

Stay tuned!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the 2010 SCBWI Florida Mid-Year Workshop. It was FABULOUS. Did I say it was FABULOUS?! Hands down best conference I’ve been to this year.

Attendees posted live tweets throughout the conference, so if you missed any of them, you can go to the Twitter #scbwifl thread to get the highlights.

The Novel Intensive was also AMAZING. I think with the smaller number of attendees (limited to 25) and of course having the dynamic trio of author Kathleen Duey and editors Alvina Ling (Little, Brown) and Stephanie Lurie (Disney/Hyperion) for the whole day dropping gems of knowledge also made it a great experience.

Okay, let me just take a brief moment to talk about Kathleen Duey. I’ve written on my blog about how phenomenal and down-to-earth she is — but ya’ll I’m telling you this writer shares so much great information and life experience from an artist’s perspective — and she has a gift of looking at a first page and/or query and making it better. I was very impressed with her suggestions — it was something to see. So if you have a chance to see this author present a workshop or critique pages at a conference, please try your best to do so. I’m just saying.

I also met some great writers in person that I’ve met either here on the blog or via Twitter like Sylvia, Harley, Medeia, and Larissa. It was great to meet them in person! So if you don’t already follow them on Twitter or read their blog you really should start. They are talented writers to watch.

Overall the conference was everything I hoped it would be. I also had a MAJOR epiphany at the conference so my summer revision is already kicked up a notch and I’m fired up to implement this new strategy to my WIP.

Here are some highlights of some of the great things I learned this past weekend from the authors and editors:

When you think of voice, think of a voice per book not necessarily a voice per author. - Kathleen Duey

A good entertaining story is always what editors are looking for. - Stephanie Lurie (Disney/Hyperion)

Character is voice, beliefs, and experiences. - Alvina Ling (Little, Brown)

Don’t stress about the query letter. Focus on the novel. - Brian Farrey (Flux)

You have to decide whether you want to put art before commerce. As a writer this is a choice you have to make. - Kathleen Duey

You have to know your character before you can introduce them to others. - Stephanie Lurie (Disney/Hyperion)

Make a list of things most people have done and then a list of things most people haven’t done. This can be a starting point for your character. - Alvina Ling (Little, Brown)

The most important relationship you’ll ever have as a writer is the relationship with your editor. - Brian Farrey

The rest of the week I’ll continue to share highlights from the conference. On Wednesday, I’ll share information about query letters and then on Friday, I’ll share what the authors and editors said about the First Page critiques — hopefully they will be as helpful to you as they were for me.

Stay tuned!

On Thursday afternoon, I jetted down to Orlando, Florida so that I can participate in the 2010 SCBWI Florida Mid-Year Workshop and Intensives.

When I first found out about this conference, I knew that I wanted to attend. It is going to FABULOUS!

I’m most excited about the Novel Intensive. Author Kathleen Duey, editor Stephanie Owens Lurie of Disney-Hyperion, and editor Alvina Ling of Little Brown will be leading this workshop, which will focus on the craft of writing. I met Kathleen Duey at another SCBWI conference in 2008 and she was mesmerizing and so down to earth, so I can’t wait for this one.

Saturday is the Mid-Year workshop where I’m taking the Novel Track. There are several other tracks as well (Picture Book, Middle-Grade, Series, and even a Marketing track). Author Danielle Joseph and editor Brian Farrey of Flux will be spear-heading the Novel Track.

So just like I did with the 2010 SCBWI Springmingle conference, I’ll be sending out tweets when I can. You can follow me at www.twitter.com/KarenMusings.

Next week, I’ll delve into all the juicy details of what I learned at this conference — which I’m sure will include many gems of inspiration and information.

Stay tuned next week!

Everyone have a GREAT weekend! Try and make some time to work on your novel projects.